Disney-ABC Television Group
ABC, Inc., DBA Disney–ABC Television Group (also known as Disney Television Group or simply Disney–ABC) manages all of The Walt Disney Company's television properties. The group includes the ABC Television Network (including ABC Daytime, ABC Entertainment and ABC News divisions), ABC Entertainment, as well as Disney's 50% stake in A&E Television Networks. History In September 11, 1995, Buena Vista Television Communications was launched. In 1996, Disney/Buena Vista acquired Capital Cities Communications. In 1998, the name was changed to Buena Vista Television Group. In 2001, Saban purchased Buena Vista, renaming to "BVS Entertainment". In 2002, the name changed to Disney–ABC Domestic Television. In 1996, Disney acquired Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. bringing ABC Television Network Group, CC/ABC Broadcasting Group (ABC Radio Network, eight TV and 21 radio stations), ABC Cable and International Broadcast Group, CC/ABC Publishing Group and CC/ABC Multimedia Group. The Cable and International Broadcast Group contained ownership shares of ESPN, Inc. (80%) A&E Television Networks (37.5%), Lifetime Television (50%) and its international investments. These investments included Tele-Muchen (50%, Germany; included 20% of RTL-2), Hamster Productions (33%, France) and Scandinavian Broadcasting System (23%, Luxembourg). EPSN also had international holdings: Eurosport (33.3%, England), TV Sport (10%, France; Eurosport affiliate) and The Japan Sports Channel (20%). The Publishing Group including Fairchild Publications, Chilton Publications, multiple newspapers from a dozen dailies (including the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, The Kansas City Star) and more weeklies, and dozens more publications in the fields of farm, business and law trade journals plus LA Magazine to Institutional Investor. The Multimedia Group presued businesses in new and emerging media technologies include the interactive television, pay-per-view, VOD, HDTV, video cassette, Optical disc, on-line services and location-based entertainment. In April 1996 do to ongoing post Disney-CC/ABC merger realignment and retirement of its president, WDTT group's division were reassigned to other groups with Walt Disney Television International (including Disney Channel International and Buena Vista Television domestic syndication and Pay TV division and GMTV and Super RTL holdings) were transferred to Capital Cities/ABC. In late 1999, Walt Disney Television Studio (also called Buena Vista Television Group), including Buena Vista Television Productions, were transferred out of the Disney Studios to ABC Television Network to merge with ABC's prime-time division, ABC Entertainment, to form ABC Entertainment Television Group. Also Walt Disney Television Studio changed its name to Touchstone Television. In 2001, Saban, Inc. and News Corporation sold Saban Entertainment and the rest of Fox Family Worldwide, now ABC Family Worldwide, renaming Saban Entertainment to "BVS Entertainment". In 2002, the name changed to Disney–ABC Television Group. In Fall 2002, Disney Chairman/CEO Michael Eisner outlined a proposed realignment of the ABC broadcast network dayparts with the similar unit in its cable channels: ABC Saturday mornings with Disney Channels (Toon & Playhouse), ABC daytime with Soapnet and ABC prime time with ABC Family. On January 22, 2009, the Disney–ABC Television Group said it would merge ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios into a new unit called ABC Entertainment Group. Late that year, A+E Networks acquired Lifetime Entertainment Services with DATG ownership increasing to 42%. In July 2012, NBCUniversal confirmed plans to sell its 15.8% stake in A+E Networks to Disney and Hearst, who will become 50-50 partners in the joint venture. On August 21, 2013, Disney-ABC Television Group announced it will layoff 175 employees. The layoffs are expected to hit positions among technical operations as well as the unit's eight local stations. On October 28, 2013, ABC News and Univision plan to launch Fusion, a Hispanic news and satire shows cable channel. Disney/iTunes video agreement In a collaborative initiative with Apple, The Walt Disney Company and the Disney–ABC Television Group were first to debut episodes of hit TV series via iTunes. At present, the Group current and past season episodes of ABC Studios (formerly Touchstone Television) and Disney Channel television shows for download on Apple’s iTunes Music Store. The entire first and second seasons of ABC hit dramas Desperate Housewives and Lost , the fifth season of the ABC Studios comedy Scrubs; select episodes of popular Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney series including Wizards of Waverly Place, That's So Raven, The Suite Life on Deck, Hannah Montana, Kim Possible, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse; as well as current episodes of ABC Family's new original series Kyle XY are available to U.S. consumers for purchase. As well, the Disney–ABC Television Group offers an extensive line-up of news, entertainment and audio podcast content on Apple's iTunes Store. Podcast content is now available for free download on the iTunes site in addition to Disney-ABC’s own websites. On January 22, 2009, the Disney–ABC Television Group said it would merge ABC Entertainment and ABC Studios into a new unit called ABC Entertainment Group. Units Year in parentheses denotes when unit was brought into the Disney–ABC Television Group fold. *ABC Networks (1943 – Radio) (1948 – Television) **ABC (1948) **ABC Daytime (1960) **ABC Entertainment (1982) **ABC News (1945) **ABC News Now (2004) **ABC Family (2001-2016) *LWN (2009) *A+E Networks (50%) (1984) *ESPN (80%) (1978) *Lifetime Entertainment Services (50%) (2009) **Lifetime (2009) **Lifetime Movie Network (2009) **Lifetime Real Women (2009) **Lifetime Radio for Women (2009) **Lifetime Press (2009) **Lifetime Digital (2009) *ABC Family Worldwide Inc. **Freeform (2016) (formerly called ABC Family) **ABC Family Digital **ProdCo, Inc. **BVS Entertainment (formerly called Saban Entertainment) *Disney Channels Worldwide **Disney Channel (1983) **Disney Junior (2011) (formerly called Playhouse Disney) **Disney XD (2009) (formerly called Toon Disney) **Disney Cinemagic ***Disney Cinemagic (France) (2007) ***Disney Cinemagic (Germany) (2009) ***Disney Cinemagic (Portugal) (2008) ***Disney Cinemagic (Italy) (2012) ***Disney Cinemagic (Spain) (2008) ***Disney Cinemagic (UK & Ireland) (2006) *Family (20%) (1988) International television investments by Disney Enterprises, Inc. * Super RTL (Germany) through Buena Vista International Television Investments (50%) * RTL II (Germany) through ABC Cable and International Broadcast Worldwide Holdings (15.75%) Radio Stations currently owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group *Radio Disney (1996) **ABC News Radio (1968) **Radio Disney Latin America **Radio Disney Brazil Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications (WDTT) was a company of the The Walt Disney Company corporation. At the time Disney and Capital Cities/ABC merged, WDTT's divisions were The Disney Channel, KCAL-TV Los Angeles, Walt Disney Television, Touchstone Television and Buena Vista Home Video International, and Disney Interactive. History On August 24, 1994 with Jeffrey Katzenberg's resignation, Richard Frank became head of Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications. Walt Disney Computer Software was transferred with in WDTT on December 5, 1994 as Disney Interactive. In April 1996 do to ongoing post Disney-CC/ABC merger realignment and retirement of its president, WDTT group's division were reassigned to other groups with most transferred to The Walt Disney Studios or CC/ABC. KCAL was sold to Young Broadcasting in May 1996 due to CC/ABC ownership of another TV station in the market. Gallery Disney abctelevisiongroup tn.jpg Disneyabctelevisiongrouplogo-1.png Disneyabctelevisiongrouplogo.png Disney ABC.png Disney ABC ESPN Television.svg.png External links *Disney-ABC Television Group *Anne Sweeney bio